A Gold Coast hospital has been able to significantly reduce its total power consumption following the installation of a proven energy optimisation system from Siemens at its chiller plant.

Installed for the first time in Australia, the Siemens Demand Flow energy optimisation system at Robina Hospital is already exceeding targets and is on track to save enough electricity in its first 12 months to even run the MCG light towers for a year.

Part of Siemens’ intelligent infrastructure solutions, Demand Flow is a proven variable pressure curve technology that optimises chiller plant control systems to reduce total plant energy consumption by 20-50 per cent.

A review of the energy optimising system installed at the hospital after the first four months reveals an average of 24 per cent reduction in total power consumption of the chiller plant at the Gold Coast hospital. The hospital has been able to reduce energy consumption by 367,154 kilowatt hours (kWh) over the same period, more than 65 per cent ahead of the set target for the period of 221,314 kWh. Total power consumption in the first month also shows a 7.04 per cent reduction for the hospital.

Siemens Building Technologies Executive General Manager, Stefan Schwab said the excellent outcomes meant the Siemens Demand Flow technology was delivering results ahead of its targeted savings. The hospital is well on track to achieve the annual target of reducing energy usage by 792,091 kWh, and the resultant $95,051 cost saving.

The Siemens system has already achieved 367,154 kWh (46.35 per cent) of the annual guarantee figure of 792,091 kWh in just four months. He added that they were confident of hitting the guaranteed payback period of 3.3 years in an even shorter period.

Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service Senior Director Infrastructure and Support Services, Nigel Hoy, said the board was delighted by the initial savings delivered by the Siemens Demand Flow system. Seeking a solution to reduce their energy consumption, they were impressed by the results achieved by Demand Flow in hospitals around the world.

Additionally, Siemens’ work at Robina allowed the hospital to consolidate chilled water infrastructure from three separate chilled water plants into one, resulting in a reduction to the ongoing maintenance requirements and costs for the facility.

Mr Schwab says the performance of the Demand Flow installation at Robina demonstrates why Siemens is the technology partner of choice for energy efficient infrastructure. He adds that the Robina installation is the latest example of how Siemens harnesses innovation to provide lowest total cost of ownership, and why they have installed more than 800 building automation systems around the country, including at more than 50 hospitals.